The story
From drift (“act of driving or herding cattle”) + of + the + forest.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
drift of the forest
drift of the for·estToday it means: The act of driving or herding cattle in a forest to a particular place in order to determine who they belong to and whether the owners have a right to common or pasture them in the forest, and whether any fines should be paid by those without such a right. Full definition →